The FBI is looking into past visits to Egypt and Canada by the suspect in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 and injured 35 people after a truck was rammed into a crowd of revelers.

 

The attacker of New Orleans Shamsud-Din-Jabbar 'pledged allegiance to ISIS'

Officials told reporters that in videos posted on social media before the attack in New Orleans, the attacker indicated that he had a "desire to kill", Biden. In some videos, the suspect "had pledged allegiance to ISIS' and appeared to be driving, said a law enforcement official on the condition of anonymity, writes the Economic Times.

They further revealed that suspect had reportedly “pledged allegiance to ISIS” in several videos posted to his Facebook page the night before the attack. He appeared to be driving in the videos, which were addressed to his family. Read more.

The attacker who carried out mass killing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early New Year’s morning visited the city twice in the months prior and used Meta smart glasses to film the street for planning, FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil said Sunday.

In New Oreleans the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, stayed at a rental home from October 30 for a few days, and during that time recorded video as he bicycled through the French Quarter, Myrthil said. He also visited New Orleans on November 10, and investigators were still putting together the details of that trip.

While he was carrying out attack on New Year's, he was wearing a pair of Meta smart glasses, but he did not activate them that day. The glasses were found on him after his death.

In a news conference on Sunday officials provided a timeline of his movements and released videos of his actions hours before the attack.

This is as per FBI, Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, drove a pickup truck into scores of Bourbon Street revelers just after 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day and then opened fire, killing 14 and injuring at least 35. The vehicle ultimately crashed into a cherry picker forklift, and Jabbar was killed in a shootout with police.

The mass killing has raised many questions as to how the city secured Bourbon Street and how a heavy-duty truck was able to drive onto one of the most pedestrian-heavy roads in the US.

In the new developing story authorities in the United States are investigating the potential significance of overseas trips made by the attacker of New Year’s revellers in New Orleans.

The videos posted online before the attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US Army veteran who proclaimed his support for ISIL (ISIS), visited Egypt and Canada in the summer of 2023.

“Our agents are getting answers as to where he went, whom he met with, how those trips may or may not tie into his actions in our city,” Lyonel Myrthil, special agent in charge of the bureau’s New Orleans field office, told reporters in the news conference.

The authorities revealed that Shamsud-Din-Jabbar also “has traveled to areas within the Atlanta area, as well as areas within the Tampa area,” said the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office. He added that there are “potential witnesses ... that may provide info at these locations,” so investigators will “make sure we are speaking to all those individuals where he may have visited.” Read more.